Oblivion
by Mechanical Infection
Summary: After foiling another Team Rocket heist of Pikachu Ash winds up lost in some strange woods while he searches for his Pikachu. Inspired by the game "Limbo".
1. One More Time with Feeling

"Prepare for trouble!"

"And make it double!"

"To protect the world from devastation."

"To unite all peoples within our nation."

"To denounce the evils of truth and love."

"To extend our reach to the stars above."

"Jesse!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light."

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth! Dat's right!"

They had heard it so many times it was ingrained into their minds and as Team Rocket recited the motto they could swear they did so too. Ash was already reaching for one of the Pokeballs when Meowth and Wobbuffet hoisted what looked like a giant vacuum cleaner above them. The loud suctioning noise was unbearable but it didn't stop them from freaking out as the vacuum sucked up all of their Pokeballs. Pikachu was the only one that remained as Ash pinned it with his back against the wall of dirt and Ash grabbed some thick roots sprouting from the wall.

The hole they'd fallen into was deep but not that spacious so Ash, Brock, May and Max managed to hang on to each other successfully. After the Pokeballs were gone James loomed in on them with what appeared to be a rocket launcher but was in fact yet another weapon used to capture Pikachu with. At the same time Chimecho appeared and Wobbuffet faced Chimecho. Wobbuffet prepared itself with Safeguard and then Chimecho hit it with Confusion. Ash and the others were confused but did the only thing they could do: watch.

Wobbuffet took the Confusion attack as best as it could and used Mirror Coat but instead of unleashing the attack on Chimecho it blasted it at Ash, Pikachu, Brock, May and Max. The successful attacks took a toll on Ash and company who were all almost knocked unconscious. James then fired the weapon and a strange rubbery bubble raced towards Pikachu and engulfed the small rodent. It tried using a Thunder Shock attack but it was still too dazed from the Confusion attack dealt back from Wobbuffet.

Meowth jumped into the hole and retrieved Pikachu with ease and as it climbed back out it cackled, not in a cruel way but amazed they were doing so well. "Later, suckers! Tanks for the parting gift!" Meowth said as it moved the vacuum aside, showing that they were only interested in Pikachu, as usual.

Team Rocket climbed into their balloon and quickly drifted off as they cackled at the success of their heist. In the commotion the vacuum had been turned off and one of the last Pokeballs to be sucked in slowly rolled out and bumped itself with a rock and Swellow was released. The bird Pokémon ruffled its feathers as it looked around.

It noticed the Team Rocket balloon flying off in the distance and it looked around looking for its trainer but he was nowhere in sight. Finally it saw the hole in the ground and as it peaked in it saw the group of kids lying on the floor dazed and almost knocked out. Swellow put two and two together and silently flew after Team Rocket.

Around dusk Team Rocket decided it was miles away from the "twerps" and safe enough to make camp. They did so near the edge of a river and after setting up their equipment they made a small campfire to prepare some food. The smiles on their faces glittered and their eyes almost swollen with pride enjoyed what they agreed on was the best dinner they'd had in years.

Of course, Swellow was off in a tall tree branch keeping a close watch on them. It sat there watching guard and waiting for the right moment to swoop down and see how it could take back Pikachu. Around 10:22 Team Rocket called it a night and placed Pikachu within another contraption. This time it was an iron jar of sorts but the precautions taken by Team Rocket were monumental so they kept Pikachu in the rubbery material as well.

Swellow swooped down as quiet as possible and gently tapped on the jar with its beak. Pikachu's ears jerked as it woke up and followed the noise only to find Swellow on the other side of the jar. Its ears perked up and a smile ran across its face. Swellow returned the smile and jumped on top of the iron jar. It tried to lift the jar but it was far too heavy for it. It tried several times but after its wings and feet were worn out it jumped down and looked at Pikachu with a devastating look of hopelessness. Swellow had given its all but it was all it could do.

Suddenly the bird lifted its head high as it thought of another plan. It spread its wings and took off into the night sky screeching a hopeful message for Pikachu. The mouse smiled and knew it would only be a matter of time before it was back with its friends.

An hour later Swellow was back to where the kids were and it was surprised to see they were still knocked out. Swellow landed on Ash's right shoulder and lightly pecked at his head. Ash's eyes quickly fluttered as he woke up. He laid his eyes on Swellow but he must have been still dazed since he just stared at the bird. Swellow ruffled its feathers and flapped its wings as it urgently screeched. Ash blinked heavily and shook his head as he said, "Swellow? Wait, what are you doing out here? What happened? Are you okay?"

Swellow kept screeching and Ash tried his best to make out what the bird was saying. He didn't understand, obviously, so he looked around and saw Brock, May and Max knocked out on the ground but no sign of Pikachu.

Suddenly his memory came back and he remembered hearing Meowth cackling at a distance and it became apparent that Team Rocket was up to their old tricks. Ash got up while calling the others and desperately sunk his fingers into the wet dirt wall to climb out. Swellow grabbed Ash by the hoodie and helped lift him. After some struggling Ash managed to drag himself out of the pit. He saw the scattered Pokeballs that had slid out of the vacuum, he grabbed one and out came Skitty.

"Skitty, I need you wake the others up and hurry! Swellow lead the way!"

Skitty looked at Ash confused as he ran off into the woods while chasing Swellow but it obeyed. Skitty ran towards the hole and it jumped in. It landed on May's back and started to play with May's hair.

"Why is it looking at us that way?"

Jessie stood in front of the captured Pikachu with one eyebrow raised and a confused look on her face. James stood next to her with one hand on his chin and his eyes fixated on Pikachu. The small rodent was laughing and waving at Team Rocket and making cooing sounds at them. It had been going on ever since Team Rocket woke up and it was puzzling Jessie, James and Meowth.

"I think it finally snapped." Said Meowth as it frowned, "Maybe the Confusion attack was too powerful for it and it just snapped."

"No, I…think it might be congratulating us for finally capturing it!" Said James with a gleeful tone and a smile as wide as his face. Jessie soon smacked him across the face and said in an irritated tone, "What is wrong with you? That rat isn't applauding us! It's up to something!"

"Now hurry up and grab your things, we need to get out of here as soon as possible before those twerps ruin our best plan yet!"

"Yes, ma'am!" Replied James and Meowth as they quickled set out to pack their things and stashed them into the balloon.

Moments before grabbing the last few things they heard Pikachu screech with delight. "Pika pi!" This caused Team Rocket to drop what they were doing and turned to the mouse that was looking at a very irate Ash.

Pikachu's plan had gone off without a hitch. It behaved oddly long enough to make Team Rocket fall behind schedule and give Swellow enough time to fly back for help.

The situation was not any different for Team Rocket. They remained cool and collected even as Ash ran towards Pikachu. Ash ran right through a thin vine on the floor and after hearing a loud snapping sound Ash froze and from the bushes next to him a contraption set off and a rope came out shooting straight at him. The rope wrapped itself around his upper body and as it tightened he lost his balance and fell face first into the ground.

Swellow reacted quickly and grabbed Ash by the shirt and lifted him up. With its claws it ripped the rope and Ash continued to rampage towards Pikachu proving that nothing would stand in his way.

Meowth grabbed the launcher and hit Swellow with a sticky substance that grounded the bird. It hit the ground hard and Ash looked back to see if he could free his Swellow. Meowth fired once more and hit Ash on his left side. Jessie had grabbed another launcher and fired a rope at Ash and hit him. The force from the rope hit him hard enough to knock him on the floor.

As Ash groaned Pikachu tried to use an electric attack but it seemed like his voltage was low and a physical attack just rendered him useless. Pikachu moved around hard enough to actually manage to make the jar fall on the side. The jar rolled down the river and landed into the water.

Everyone screamed and everyone raced towards the river. As James reached the shore Swellow managed to gather enough strength to use Tackle on him but as it did James became tangled with the bird and both fell to the ground. Jessie and Meowth ran faster and as they did Ash was right behind them and before hitting the shore Ash slid and tackled them to avoid touching them with the glue like substance.

Ash got back up and jumped into the river. Once under the water he opened his eyes and saw Pikachu frantically moving about. The jar had hit a rock and cracked it making a small hole and water quickly filled the jar. Ash swam down and with his left arm touched the jar. The jar stuck to him long enough to reach the surface and when he did he inhaled some air, afterwards he positioned himself awkwardly to the side as to empty some of the water accumulated in the jar to allow Pikachu some air to breath.

In the process he and Pikachu failed to notice that the river was dragging them, dragging them towards a tall waterfall only 43 feet away. As soon as Pikachu saw the raging waterfall it began to screech out to Ash.

"Oh, no…"

That was the only reaction Ash had time for. Before he or Pikachu could do anything about it both of them went over the almost 200 foot waterfall. Ash could hear himself frantically screaming and he could almost swear he heard himself screaming out for help to anyone that was close to him. The only thing he could see was a yellow blue and a never-ending shade of blue and some green as he fell. And as he hit the water hard it stung but it was nothing compared to the pain he felt as he hit the river's floor.

The amount of pain he felt on the left side of his head was unspeakable and the burning sensation in his lungs was just as bad if not worse. He had never felt so much pain in his life. Then suddenly he could not hear anything, it was all muffled and his vision was fading and the burning in his lungs was intense as he inhaled.

Soon he could neither see nor hear. There was only darkness and a numbing feeling in his chest.


	2. Into the Abyss

Something was happening to him, or more accurately, to his flesh. The intense cold of the water surrounding him felt like a thousand cold needles pricking at his flesh. As Ash sunk he began to shiver from the cold which was beginning to really bother him. Suddenly Ash opened his eyes wide and a surge of shock and fear overwhelmed him. He could not see anything, all around him was black and as soon as he realized he was under water he began to kick and paddle his way up to the surface. He kicked and swam up and after what felt like forever he finally reached the surface; he scurried to the shore on all fours and coughed up the water that had entered his lungs.

He felt his lungs were on fire but as the water expelled from them he felt somewhat better. After clearing his lungs he sat on his knees and wrapped his arms around him and shivered. It was a lot colder than he remembered, which, was odd given that they were in mid-summer.

Ash looked around and immediately felt something was wrong. He knew he was in the Hoenn region but the forest he was in was Viridian Forest. They were nowhere near Kanto yet he was sure the forest around him was in fact Viridian. Another thing he noticed was that the waterfall he had gone over was gone. In fact, there were no cliffs or hills or mountains anywhere near him.

Ash shivered while shrugging his shoulders and slowly stood up to look around. There was no one in sight, nothing, no people, no Pokémon and yet, Viridian Forest was famous for dozens of bug Pokémon and trainers. From what he remembered the forest was usually teaming with life and noise. That was another odd thing: he couldn't hear anything. He cleared his throat loudly to test his hearing and it all seemed to be in check. He heard himself clear his throat so his guess was that there was nothing or anyone in the forest in that particular day.

As Ash looked around for any sort of sign of life he scratched the left side of his head and noticed his hat was gone. He looked around the floor and even in the river but it seemed to have been washed away by the current. He also noticed that his backpack was gone and there was no sign of it anywhere either.

Ash sighed deeply and scratched his head again and in the same spot. It seemed to feel funny but it wasn't itchy, his head just felt funny. As he lowered his hand he got a glimpse of it and saw blood on his fingertips. He was shocked to see blood so he knelt down on the river's edge to see his reflection on the surface but it was so dark out he could barely make out his face. Still, he passed his hand on the area where his head felt weird and as he looked at his hands there was more blood.

In a panic he dipped his hands into the ice cold water, grabbed some water and splashed some on the side of his head. The water washed away plenty of blood which was worrying him. That amount of blood meant he had gotten injured when he hit the water after falling from what was now a non-existing waterfall. He thoroughly checked his wound and found a big gash on the side of his head. Funny thing was that it didn't hurt at all, even when he poked his finger in it. It bled but it did not produce any pain at all, just a fuzzy like feeling.

Ash decided that playing with the wound was not a good idea so he pushed that into the back of his mind and sat on the ground to think things through. First thing he wanted to do was find someone else. It didn't fit into his logic how a busy place like Viridian Forest could be so empty. It was then he noticed it was dark and most likely very late at night. Staying out in the open in the middle of the night was never a good idea but he had no supplies, was lost and could not find Brock, May, Max or Pikachu. The frustration was beginning to build so he cupped his hands around his mouth, took a deep breath and let out a raspy, "Helloooooooooo! Anyone out there?"

The only sound he heard was the water in the river as it slushed when the current dragged it. Ash scanned the area and nothing moved, not even the leaves, not even the clouds. It was then and there that Ash decided it was best to keep moving in order to avoid staying in one place as it could be dangerous. If he had to he was determined to walk all night long. Ash stood up and as he wiped some mud off his hands he heard a very familiar and welcoming sound.

"Pika pi?"

Ash quickly jerked his head to the side and saw a small silhouette in the shape of Pikachu. Ash smiled and ran towards his Pikachu but the small silhouette ran away so Ash gave chase. He wondered why Pikachu ran off but he was just glad to have found his Pokémon nice and safe.

Pikachu ran into some shrubs that lead further into the forest and as Ash chased him he called out to it, "Wait, Pikachu, where are you going? Slow down, buddy!"

Pikachu never stopped or even looked back; it just kept running at full speed. It ran towards a cliff which had an old log on the edge. The mouse ran up to the log and stood on the edge of the log and looked back at Ash who stopped several feet from it.

Some light managed to filter through the massive clouds in the sky and when the light hit Pikachu Ash saw that its usual bright coat was dull and Pikachu seemed to be soaking wet. Its eyes looked empty, like the life had been sucked out of them.

Pikachu looked down and then back at Ash who had bent down resting his arms on his knees and breathing heavily. His lungs still burned from earlier and the running did not help his situation.

Suddenly, Pikachu jumped down and in a panicking rush Ash ran towards the edge. He climbed on the log and looked down. The hill was steep but not too steep, Ash looked for Pikachu but it was nowhere to be found. He took a deep breath and jumped down the hill. He tried to run but soon lost his footing and he stumbled down the hill until he landed hard face first into the wet grass.

Ash slowly got back up but as he lifted his head he gasped loudly as he saw he had landed mere inches from a crowd of sharp wooden sticks sticking out of the ground in a vertical position indicating that if he would have landed some inches forward he would have been impaled on the sharp stakes.

Ash blinked several times before raising himself with his arms. He was covered in mud, still wet and as he subconsciously passed his fingers through his hair he remembered his injury and quickly looked at his fingers which were bloody.

Everything that was happening was confusing him, the empty forest, the lack of life, the silence, his bleeding wound and Pikachu running away for no apparent reason. Ash looked around and once again called out to anyone.

"Hello! Please, is anyone out there? Anybodyyyyyyy!"

Ash closed his eyes trying to hold back his tears but as his eyes burned he opened them and a few tears treaded down his cheeks. He lowered his gaze, wrapped his arms around his torso and before slowly walking forward he whispered, "…help…"

Wondering through forests for so many years taught him that if you happened to be lost and alone in a forest at night there was a 50/50 chance of you making it through the night. Of course this theory was never put into practice until now so he went with his "gut" and kept walking. He had no shelter, food or way of defending himself so staying put was not a smart option. As he moved forward he started to notice that the trees were all either dead or rotting, some had thick vines on them but that was all the vegetation he saw on the trees. He shrugged it off as his survival instincts had kicked in and unless it would prove either helpful or fatal he was not really paying much attention to it.

As he walked onward he heard the faint sound of water slushing and as it got louder a sudden stink of rot hit him like a ton of bricks. He covered his nose and mouth with one hand and kept the other wrapped around his upper torso. In the distance he saw another river, not as wide as the previous one though. He walked towards the river and noticed the putrid smell was coming from the river itself. A closer inspection let him see some muck on the surface of the water and flies all over the surface buzzing around the muck.

"Eeww. No way am I getting in that river." His muffled voice said to himself. Ash looked around and to his surprise there was a fallen tree several feet from him. He cheerfully smiled and rushed over to the trunk which also surprisingly was not that heavy. He grabbed it by one end and pushed it towards the river. As he got to the river he tried holding his breath, the putrid smell was making his stomach do summersaults.

When the log was in the river it began to drift down the river slowly. Ash panicked and followed it but luckily it got caught on something and stayed firmly in place. Part of him, the logical side, said there was a chance he would fall into the putrid water but the reckless side of him said he was sure to make it if he balanced himself just right. Without much delay or thought, he usually went with the side he most sided with: the reckless side. Ash slowly and carefully placed one foot in front of the other; he also stretched his arms out to give himself more balance. Everything was going as smoothly as it could go even when he wobbled now and again giving him a fright so halfway through the tree trunk he inhaled as deep as he could and held his breath. It didn't necessarily do much for his balance but it did keep him from breathing in that putrid smell and let him concentrate on the task at hand.

When he was inches from the shore he decided to risk it and jumped. Unfortunately for him he landed on the ground but it was so moist from the river that the dirt had turned to mud and his feet sank in. It was deep, he wrestled with the mud and as much as he tried to remove his feet he just couldn't even budge. After a few minutes of fruitless struggling he groaned loudly and said to himself, "Sure, Ash, great idea. Let's jump before looking. No wonder you're always getting into trouble."

As he tired himself he breathed in heavier and heavier and he did notice that the harder he breathed he could still feel his lungs burning. It was odd since it had been a while since he coughed up the water from his lungs. He had no medical knowledge but he was certain that his lungs shouldn't be burning that much still.

"_Everything just keeps getting weirder and weirder. And why isn't there anyone around here? There should be dozens of people and hundreds of Pokémon."_ Ash said to himself as he struggled with the mud. As he struggled and kept thinking to himself he neglected to see or even hear the giant wings flapping behind him.

It was too late though; something strong grabbed his arms and pulled him out of the mud as it carried him across the cold dead sky. He shouted and kicked but the creature just lifted him high into the sky. As Ash struggled he turned his head up and saw a massive Charizard. Normally Ash would be glad to see a Pokémon but the panic within him grabbed a hold of him and for good reason too. The Charizard looked down at him and as it growled it actually let him go. Ash screamed as he fell to the ground below and as he flailed his arms and legs he heard a loud thud and immediately blacked out.


End file.
